Reset Life with Infinite Talents - Chapter 156
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Infinite Talent Reset Life Episode 156
42. The Meaning of Clothes
“It would be better to maintain the real estate rather than sell it, wouldn’t it?”
“The same goes for bonds. This could also be used for diplomatic purposes.”
‘Hmm.’
Ichiro, the general manager of the treasure trove, turns around and walks down the corridor.
“He said he would retrieve them.”
Whether he’s the legitimate head who formally inherited the seal, or just a rogue who happened to find it, he said he would retrieve all the treasures.
“Liberation… perhaps.”
The family business of managing the treasure trove has continued for eight generations already.
The other colleagues in this industrial complex are in similar situations.
Retainer families who have been with the Inoue family since its prosperity.
‘When I was young, I really didn’t want to do this…’
He had rebelled a lot, asking why he had to dedicate his youth to such things.
But now that he thinks it’s over, his body feels drained of strength.
Lingering attachment grabs his ankles and won’t let go.
So he very slowly took in each treasure he had polished and managed all this time.
Walking like that, he eventually stands in front of the room with the open door.
‘What is he doing?’
Swish swish swish!
The current head seems to be drawing pictures in a notebook.
‘Why. Why on earth.’
Why does he want to close this place?
His throat tightening, he approaches.
“The Hunminjeongeum Haerye edition… This is among the top ten treasures in the collection gathered by the previous head.”
“I’m going to move all the treasures to America.”
“…I see.”
‘So it was America after all.’
Without even shifting his gaze, Johann asked Ichiro.
“How long would it take to move everything to America?”
“It would take at least two years.”
There are a whopping 640,000 treasures.
Moving them in just a day or two would be absurd.
“What if you and the other managers helped?”
Startled!
‘Did I mention my name?’
And did I also mention there were multiple managers?
Getting older makes even what he just said confusing.
“Even with our help, it would still take about that long…”
“I’ll allocate 10 percent of the real estate profits to all of you.”
Flinch!
Johann clearly meets the eyes of the surprised man looking at him.
“I’ll also refill this treasure trove.”
“…Re-refill it?”
“Thinking about it carefully, this thought occurred to me. The previous heads visited at most once per season, so how did they gather such treasures?”
It was all thanks to Ichiro and the other managers.
Creating lists of newly discovered treasures from around the world to report to the Inoue head, secretly purchasing the treasures the head checked off from those lists, bringing them to Japan, and placing them in this treasure trove. They accomplished all of this.
‘Even asset management.’
Specialists in smuggling and asset management.
‘Give up those routes and know-how?’
No matter how he thinks about it, it would be a loss.
“In my opinion, Inoue’s real treasure isn’t those items, but all of you.”
So he can’t let them go.
Thump!
His aged, withered heart pounds.
“Do you mean you need old folks like us?”
“Yes. I need you.”
Very much so.
“Even if you don’t say that, we wouldn’t open our mouths…”
“One of my goals is the Yamashita treasure.”
Boom!
The legendary Yamashita treasure with an estimated value of 1,000 trillion yen.
“I’m very close to it.”
No. He already knows where it’s hidden.
“Before you pass away, wouldn’t you want to see that treasure and other legendary treasures with your own eyes?”
“…Heh heh!”
Ichiro’s face turns bright red.
“The current head seems to have mastered human psychology.”
That’s why he can make the hearts of smugglers like them race.
He knows it’s certainly an impossible story.
But the hope of being able to see and touch that legendary treasure grabs onto his thinning lifeline.
“Let me ask again. How long do you think it would take to move everything to America?”
“…One month!”
They’d have to move everything at once.
If they moved things bit by bit, they’d surely be caught.
“I’ll allocate 20 percent of real estate, stocks, and other profits for treasure purchases. And I’ll create a foundation with 30 percent to compensate the original owners of those treasures.”
“It’s difficult to find the original owners.”
Also, the original owners often sell them.
“Then please create and manage a welfare foundation for patients with rare diseases and… the elderly.”
In the countries where the treasures were purchased.
“Understood. I’ll proceed with that in mind!”
“For transportation issues, you can consult with Lynch, one of the people who came with me.”
As Ichiro bows deeply and turns around with an excited face, Johann turns his head and twists his lips.
‘Even if I silence them with money, how long would that last? Inoue Ryoma was already giving them plenty of money.’
The managers had not only helped their children become independent and get married splendidly, but gave them enough money to make their children visit their parents every week.
The youngest among those managers is in his mid-fifties.
Rather than money, continuing the work they’ve done their whole lives, the fact that they’re still sufficiently useful, is what matters at that age.
‘Not being able to do the work you’ve done for decades, passed down through generations?’
They’d age quickly, and their mouths would become that much looser.
‘So this method is the best.’
Johann nods and looks at his notebook again.
At the drawing that looks like men’s hanbok but isn’t.
At the sketch with old Korean written on the shoulder.
“This is a fashion designer’s perspective…”
Johann looks at the Hunminjeongeum Haerye edition again.
The inspiration interrupted by the recent conversation continues again.
What had only tickled his mind two weeks ago has swelled hundreds and thousands of times to become a massive lump of inspiration that devours the letters of the Haerye edition.
The smell of dust.
The scent of ink.
The lines and brushstrokes and meaning of the characters.
The hanbok Johann saw in Korea, the clothing of Korean people, tears apart in his mind and reassembles itself.
‘Interesting.’
It’s an incredibly fascinating sensation.
A feeling similar yet different to Joe Walsh, who sees everything as musical notes.
“Maybe it’s because he was originally someone who focused mainly on Korean beauty…”
Though there are many designs that seem wrong due to his overly intense pursuit of timeless, white avant-garde aesthetics, there are quite a few that could work in America.
‘But…’
Johann tilts his head.
“Why don’t I like it?”
His mind keeps drawing lines, but something feels subtly off.
Even the person he absorbed through reading says this isn’t right.
‘What exactly is the problem?’
The designs are sufficiently stylish and beautiful as they are.
‘Is it because it’s different from the era he lived in?’
That’s a possibility.
Decades have passed since the peak of his abilities.
“Hmm. Design is quite difficult.”
Johann closes his eyes and accesses the library again.
He brings up the reading list and looks at the top.
[Andre Kim, Kim Bong-nam]
Nickname: One who fanatically loves white, Korea’s first male fashion designer.
‘If I don’t like it because the era is different, because his work feels outdated…’
What if modern perspective is added?
“Search. Fashion designer.”
Johann stared at the orbs flying toward him.
* * *
Ring-a-ling!
“I realized too late. That without you, I am nothing.”
I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.
Though it’s too late…
Johann’s singing voice and guitar melody, conveying his apologetic heart, gently fill the cafe.
Ring-a-ling!
Clap clap clap clap clap!
“It’s like… a love song.”
Lyrics that seem to depict the feelings of a man regretting after his lover left.
Being easy listening based on rock, it’s extremely comfortable to listen to.
“I want to hear it as a music track as soon as possible.”
Even though she’s not Johann’s fan, she wants to add it to her playlist and listen to it daily.
“Haha. Is that so? Thank you for saying that.”
“…Good work.”
“Good work.”
As the reporter from the famous Japanese magazine packs up his laptop and hesitantly turns away, Johann brings the completely cold coffee to his lips.
“Really… tasteless.”
It tastes worse than the shocking desserts and coffee from the maid cafe he was recommended during his previous visit.
‘Is all Japanese coffee at this level?’
Johann places a thousand yen bill on the table and stands up as Larry and Rick Bottom approach.
“Good work.”
“There are no more schedules, right?”
“That’s… right?”
Larry looks at Rick Bottom, who nods.
Having finished the H&M Japan photo shoot, they can now return to LA.
“We have about 3 hours of free time.”
“Oh, then we can tour Tokyo and head to the airport. Johann, where was good when you came before?”
“Maid cafe.”
“Huh?”
“A cafe with a European maid concept.”
“Oh- that sounds good.”
“You think so too, Larry?”
It will probably remain in memory for a long time.
Johann grins and leads the way, while Rick Bottom behind Larry also smiles faintly and follows.
I can’t be the only one to suffer.
Thus the disguised schedule in Japan also came to an end, and the gazes watching them were withdrawn.
* * *
Born in the countryside in 1935 during the Japanese colonial period, unlike his other brothers who ran around mountains and fields, he preferred quietly drawing pictures.
The dirt ground was his canvas, and tree branches were his brushes.
Even when many teased him for being like a girl, he didn’t give up and continued drawing.
Then liberation came, the Korean War broke out, and he evacuated to Busan.
Like all refugees, he too had to wander the streets to earn even one more penny.
His only hobby was watching movies.
Watching the shining actors on screen made him forget his hard life, so he visited theaters with money saved penny by penny.
He sometimes wished to become a movie actor.
Then he encountered a fateful movie.
Funny Face.
A movie where Audrey Hepburn becomes a fashion magazine model.
‘It was a greater shock than liberation and North Korea’s invasion.’
I want to make clothes like that.
For the first time, he had a true dream.
But there was nowhere in the country that taught fashion as art, so he had no choice but to self-study by searching through foreign books.
Then in 1961, when the International Fashion Institute opened, he entered as a first-year student and debuted the following year as Republic of Korea’s first male fashion designer.
Though he began to succeed greatly, he had one regret.
‘Not being able to dress his mother in clothes he made.’
His mother, who despite their poor circumstances, always dressed her children in pure white clothes.
His mother, who never showed displeasure even when her hands were swollen and cracked daily, and passed away from a heart attack.
Kim Bong-nam’s obsession with white was because of this.
* * *
Whooooom!
Inside the airplane crossing the Pacific Ocean.
Larry, who downed whiskey due to burning thirst, pounds his still violently beating heart.
‘Assets alone worth 70 billion dollars?’
Including hundreds of thousands of treasures collected over two hundred years, it’s an amount impossible to even estimate.
“…Is this how treasure hunters are born?”
Even trying to calm down, he can’t calm down.
His whole body is tingling, making him want to keep going to the restroom.
Larry looks to the side, wondering if Johann feels the same way, and opens his mouth.
Johann, who seemed to be drawing something in his sketchbook before departure, is now sleeping.
“Really, not a single nerve…”
‘But what was he drawing?’
Could it be a collaboration design with H&M New York Branch?
Larry quietly takes the design notebook placed on Johann’s stomach and opens it.
“Huh…?”
Honestly, he still doesn’t know much about fashion design.
The fashion industry is an incomprehensibly complex world, like painting or contemporary art.
It’s a world where they pour out new conceptual designs every season and fight tooth and nail to lead trends, so it’s hard to fully understand without exceptional sense.
Still, Larry has been nurturing fashion models for decades.
He can at least judge whether his models would shine wearing these clothes, or whether these clothes would sell.
‘In that sense, this… sells.’
A design imbued with elegance like Louis Vuitton, Chanel, or Hermès.
Korean spellings add mystique to it.
“He even has this kind of talent…”
‘We have to sell this to H&M?’
It feels regrettable.
Larry has become completely absorbed in the design notebook, and Johann glances at him before turning his head.
‘Larry likes it too… why.’
Why does that subtle irritation still remain?
‘It’s not a matter of the era either. Ugh.’
Johann remained lost in thought, and meanwhile the plane arrived in LA.
Murmur murmur!
“The museum will be ready within six months.”
A museum created with joint investment from the CIA.
They don’t intend to display all 640,000 treasures.
They’ve already agreed to hand over 10 percent to the CIA, and some of these will be sold to various museums within America, while others will be used for diplomacy.
And the remainder will be displayed by creating a museum.
This method is used because it’s the most convenient for managing treasures and will also make it easy to launder the origins of treasures Ichiro acquires later.
However, the treasures will be moved before that.
The longer they delay, the more secrets might leak out somehow.
“This will create another landmark in LA.”
And Johann is creating that too.
“Haha.”
“Then I’ll leave it to you.”
Lynch shakes Larry’s trembling hand, winks saying they’ll meet again, and walks away, while Johann looks at Larry.
“When did they say the hotel would be completed?”
“In 5 months.”
The time is getting longer due to space needed to care for the predators. Suddenly, Larry’s mind races.
“…We’ll have to delay the hotel opening by another month.”
Bundling museum visits as a connected product with the hotel.
“Then the location… no. The museum would be better in downtown LA where police can patrol frequently, rather than next to the hotel.”
Since the hotel targets wealthy foreigners, it’s being built in relatively quiet outskirts rather than the bustling downtown. The museum, which needs good accessibility, wasn’t suitable for the outskirts.
‘That’s Larry for you.’
Say one thing and he thinks of and connects several things.
“How about holding an auction?”
“An auction? Of Inoue’s treasures?”
“Yeah. They’re ours anyway.”
“Oh?”
It’s the moment when the two are having various conversations and crossing the immigration gate.
“Johann!”
“Huh?”
Johann turns his head and opens his eyes wide.
Tap tap! Swoosh!
Soft warmth snugly embracing him.
It’s Emily.
And all his friends are approaching.
“How are you guys here…”
“Because of someone who’s incredibly busy, you bastard.”
“If we don’t do this, it’s hard to meet you.”
“Your stamina is fine, right? Don’t think about going anywhere today.”
“Mr. Larry, can we take him away?”
Johann stares blankly at his friends speaking one by one.
‘They came to pick me up? At this dawn?’
It’s early morning when the sun is just about to rise.
Normally, everyone would be in bed at this time.
Lightning strikes in Johann’s mind.
‘That’s it.’
“I was missing the most important thing…”
The meaning of trying to make clothes.
The meaning of clothes existing as clothes.
This is why it felt subtly irritating.
‘Because I hadn’t decided who I was making them for.’
Johann turns his gaze to look at Larry.
“Ah.”
Click!
Something that was misaligned falls into place, everything he saw in Korea and Japan mixes together in his mind, and the lines in his head begin to adjust minutely.
He grits his teeth at the inspiration bursting forth in his mind.
“Larry, guys. Help me out.”
He needed their help.
‘Andre Kim and Kim Bong-nam’ also smiled as if this was it.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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